


Hang Together, or Hang Separately

by akisazame



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Social Links, p4week2014
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-02
Updated: 2014-06-02
Packaged: 2018-02-03 03:49:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1730057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akisazame/pseuds/akisazame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Arcana is the means by which all is revealed...<br/>In the face of disaster lies the opportunity for renewal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hang Together, or Hang Separately

**Author's Note:**

> For [#P4week2014](http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/p4week2014) Day 2: Shuffle Time.

The weather on the floodplain was in that strange limbo just before it rains, where the air is damp and clingy but water isn't actually falling from the sky. The threat is there, and it could materialize at any moment, but it hasn't decided just yet whether it's ready to make good on it.

Lately, Souji could really identify with that kind of weather.

Everything in the past week and a half of his life had progressed at such a fevered pace that he found it difficult to try and process it all. Moving to a new town wasn't really anything out of the ordinary for him, but everything that had happened since that was nearly out of the realm of comprehension. If it had just been the murders, he might have felt differently about it; no matter how hard people tried to live their sheltered idyllic lives, the truth was that the world was a horrible place. It was everything else, the TV world and shadows and Personas and the Velvet Room, that he was really having a hard time sorting out.

Both Yosuke and Chie had wanted to hang out with him after school today, but Souji had decided instead to just try and spend some time alone, thinking. He'd come to the Samegawa knowing it would be quieter than usual on a day that was threatening rain like this, and was relieved when he arrived and only saw one other person sitting despondently on the bank of the river.

After a moment, however, he realized that the person sitting there was the same person he'd seen on the news last night, right before Nanako had changed the channel.

As Souji got closer, he could hear the man muttering quietly to himself. "Who in the world could've done such a... It's horrible... too horrible..."

Souji had wanted to be alone. That's what he'd told himself before coming here. All that stuff Igor had said about bonds was really messing him up.

"Hello," Souji said quietly, so as not to startle the man. "Are you alright?"

Taro Namatame turned around, startled. "O- oh, hello there. I'm sorry, am I bothering you? I can leave..."

"You're not bothering me," Souji replied, taking another cautious step closer.

"Oh," Namatame said, turning back to stare out at the Samegawa again. This close to the water, the air was especially damp and just a little foggy. "I'm sorry," he muttered again after a moment, just barely audible over the rushing river. "I guess I've just gotten used to people telling me to leave."

Souji recalled the story on the news, about how Namatame's affair with the first murder victim, Mayumi Yamano, and how his wife, Misuzu Hiiragi, had left him as a result. Since Hiiragi was a famous enka singer, it had been a huge scandal, only eclipsed in the public eye when Yamano had turned up dead on a television antennae.

Souji considered asking for consent, but ultimately decided to sit on the riverbank next to Namatame. "Would you like to talk about it?" he asked instead.

The older man kept looking at the river, but the look on his face changed to one of combined surprise and sadness. "I don't know if I should..." He paused, bit his lip, then glanced at Souji out of the corner of his eye. "Okay. Yes, maybe that will help."

An increasingly familiar voice echoed in Souji's head. "Thou art I... And I am thou... Thou hast established a new bond... It brings thee closer to the truth... Thou shalt be blessed when creating Personas of the Hanged Man Arcana..."

"Not today, though," Namatame was saying when Souji came fully back to his senses. "Maybe another day, sometime soon. Today, though..." He closed his eyes and swallowed. "Not today."

Souji parted ways with Namatame and went home.

\---

Everything was happening so fast.

"All we have to do is push him inside the TV," Yosuke was saying, to the horror of most of the rest of the Investigation Team. "That's it. We do that one thing, and this is all over."

Chie was the first to speak out in protest, but Souji barely heard what she said. He was too busy thinking back on the time he'd spent over the past nine months, strengthening his bond with Namatame. It had been slow-going at first, gentle prodding into Namatame's personal life since the scandal, then carefully coaxing him into opening up about his feelings for Yamano and letting him truly grieve her death for the first time.

Then Nanako had been kidnapped, and things got very confusing. It was hard to confront Namatame inside the TV world, not only because of what he had done to Nanako and all of Souji's friends, but because of the way Taowu reacted to Namatame's obvious distress. When Namatame's Shadow had emerged, Souji had to quickly shuffle Taowu to the back of his mind in order to keep as clear a head as possible.

Now here they were in a quiet hospital room, staring at an oversized television and trying to decide if vigilante justice was justifiable.

"The life here is nice too," Namatame had said on one peaceful day in June, and Souji could acutely remember the way Namatame had smiled when Souji agreed.

"Wait a second here," Souji said cautiously.

(The Taro Namatame Social Link has reached level 8! Your power to create Personas of the Hanged Man Arcana has grown!)

\---

The snow was falling gently outside the window of Chagall Cafe in Okina City. "How are you holding up?" Souji asked gently, wrapping his hands around his coffee mug.

Namatame was staring despondently into his own cup, face pale and drawn. The toll that the past two months had taken on him was obvious, let alone everything else since the scandal had begun in April. "I spoke with my parents for the first time since I was released from prison," he said quietly, as if he was afraid of anyone overhearing. "I wanted to explain everything to them, but it really defies explanation, doesn't it? So instead I just told them I wanted to come home. That I was ready to change."

He laughed softly and more than a little ruefully. "I really thought that I was saving all those kids, you know? And that each time I saved someone, I was somehow making up for Mayumi's death. But you can never make up for anyone's death. Because no matter what I do, Mayumi's never coming back. I spent all that time trying to be a hero, just so I wouldn't have to think about Mayumi..." Souji wasn't sure, but he thought he saw the ghost of a smile flicker across Namatame's face. "But I finally feel I can face reality. It's all thanks to you."

"I didn't do anything," Souji said.

Namatame didn't even bother to protest. Instead, he reached into the inside pocket of his winter coat and pulled out a neatly wrapped brown paper package. "Here, I want you to have this."

Souji knew something about the way the package was wrapped was vaguely familiar, but he couldn't place it until he unfolded the paper and took out the scarf inside. He had seen the scarf before, hanging inside of Tatsumi Textiles; he recalled Kanji's mother mentioning it was part of a set. Its match had been inside the TV world, tied in a noose.

"Mayumi ordered this scarf for me," Namatame said solemnly. "Before our affair made the news. She loved the scarves from Tatsumi Textiles, and she wanted me to have one too. She ordered a matching set, actually. We picked out the design together." He reached out his hand to brush his fingertips against the soft, colorful fabric. "I visited the shop yesterday, and one of your friends was minding the store. The boy I thought I was saving. He told me I could have the scarf." He looked up and met Souji's eyes for the first time that day. "But the truth is, I don't need it anymore. So I wanted to give it to you."

Somewhere in Souji's mind, Vasuki smiled warmly.


End file.
